‘So, why am I here?’: ambiguous practices of protection, treatment and punishment in Danish secure institutions for youth

This article explores how a nexus of punishment, treatment and protection creates unique mechanisms of control in secure institutions for young people. It is based on a study in Danish secure institutions, which accommodate young people confined on legal and welfare grounds. In these hybrid institut...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Henriksen, Ann-Karina (Author)
Contributors: Prieur, Annick
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2019
In: The British journal of criminology
Year: 2019, Volume: 59, Issue: 5, Pages: 1161-1177
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (Resolving-System)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Children's rights
Closed institutions
Lived experience
Nordic exceptionalism
Punishment
Young people
Description
Summary:This article explores how a nexus of punishment, treatment and protection creates unique mechanisms of control in secure institutions for young people. It is based on a study in Danish secure institutions, which accommodate young people confined on legal and welfare grounds. In these hybrid institutions, protection, treatment and punishment merge in ambiguous and contradictory practices that are experienced as unjust or even harmful by the young people and possibly breach the UN Convention of the Child. These practices are explored through a Foucauldian theorization highlighting the disciplinary practices unique to the confinement of minors. The article contributes to wider debates on the treatment–punishment nexus, Nordic exceptionalism and criminal justice for youth in an era of neoliberal penal-welfarism.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azz018